In spring 1945, Nazi Germany is running out of time, and the Third Reich is scrambling to find ways to survive and continue its nefarious deeds. Soviet intelligence resident in Berlin, Standartenfuhrer Max Otto von Stierlitz (also known as Colonel Maxim Maximovich Isaev), is on a mission for the Center: to identify and disrupt Germany’s looming negotiations with the United States and Great Britain.

What sets this TV series apart is how it portrays the truth of any confrontation with evil: the enemy is not an operatic villain who can be defeated like an evil clown-hooligan, driven away with a stick. The enemy is hostile not in appearance, but in the essence of their beliefs. The show presents the enemy, not as cardboard cutouts, but as humans who are intelligent, and have their own plans and ambitions.